Topic: I painted my Acurite 5 in 1, have you?

[nincehelser]

Hello Moe. Are you considering painting? I did lock the topic a couple of times to try to cool nince off, but he just won't consider trying to work with those of us who are testing the paint on the bottom housing of the sensor. I am seeing such an improvement, and my data agrees with our two local ASOS and a Davis. The only thing I find lacking is the humidity running too low when it should be near 100% It runs about 8 low.

I don't need to cool off.  I'm perfectly fine.

You can do whatever you want with painting.  You just need to stop making bombastic claims, and stop with the personal attacks.

[DoctorKnow]

No "claims" and "attacks" needed. The proof is on my graphs. I am running at normal temps without spikes. I put another coat on the 5in1 and she is doing a great job and service.

[jimmy1913]

Same here dropped temps a lot but still reads warmer than my VP2 daytime fars and Nimbus Ultra in a RM Young radiation shield. About +2 against the VP2 and +1.2 against the nimbus ultra.But last summer I had temps as much as +7 so it did make a huge improvement.

[DoctorKnow]

1 or 2 degrees is decent though. Mine is running lower than all stations around me by 1 to 2 degrees, including Davis brands. Even 4 degrees lower than the New River Air station right now. That thermometer used to always be 3 or 4 degrees LESS than mine.

[jimmy1913]

Is this roof mounted?my station is at 5' standard height!

[DoctorKnow]

Is this roof mounted?my station is at 5' standard height!

It's not on the roof. I've got it in the middle of the backyard on a pole about 19 ft high for the anemometer. I kind of spit the difference of the recommended heights. As soon as Ambient stocks their ws 2080, I am ordering one and mounting the instruments where they should be. Then I can share with all the sites I want also.

[DoctorKnow]

I've now made a radiation shield out of plastic bowls turned upside down mounted on rods for an acurite tower sensor I have. I am testing the data. I have painted the bowls with the same spray paint. I want to see how acurate the tower really can be. I have found the sensor goes too high when the sun is out even in the shade, and the humidity goes too low without any shielding. So far not much sun around though...

These homemade bowl shields are a cheap solution that should work well if enough air gets mixed in.

[DoctorKnow]

During an all cloudy day, with low wind, I am still seeing a 4 degree spike on my 5 n 1. Any ideas what I should paint to try and get the chimney effect going? Paint under the cover maybe, where the fan blades are? The stack of the wind cups and the cups themselves? I have no extra heating when the sun is out, like I do when it's cloudy. I can't figure where the heat comes from... Maybe the electronics?

[joegr]

No heat from the electronics.  The batteries wouldn't last long at all if the electronics were using enough power to heat up.  The heat is from the IR from the sun.  The clouds are blocking some of the visible light and some of the IR, but not all of it.
I added two solar cells to mine, one facing east and one west (plus the south facing one that was already there).  Now I can hear the fan running even on a cloudy day.  Temperatures seem to be in line with other weather stations in the area and within a couple of degrees of my tower sensor on the porch.

[DoctorKnow]

It must be IR. When the sun barely peaked out, the temp went down 4 degrees. I didn't realize it was possible to start the fan via solar in daytime with overcast conditions. I'll likely try paint first, then add more solar, since paint is easier, and I have to borrow a soldering iron.

[sinan0310]

So did you paint your station? If you did could you share some picture?

[DoctorKnow]

Post #18. I don't have any pics. The station is no longer in service. I replaced it with another 5 in 1, and yes, it spikes a few degrees in midday.

[Bashy]

The color is dark enough (grey) that it absorbs enough sun to raise the temp on the chip which is located inside the gray bottom of the 5 in 1 to cause a real mess for about 2 hours in the morning, and then 2 hours in the evening as the sun sets.

I am going to go with you on this one, i made a made shield, i bought white duct, it wasnt quite white but certainly white enough
yet, in the sun i was getting +2C, lots of experimenting later i found it to be the colour of the duct, i gloss white the duct and it
straight away brought it down to +1C , as you can see from the pre painted item that it was in fact white and prob about 50% glossy.
Certainly more glossy that a standard temp/hum shield for the wmr968

[Bashy]

During an all cloudy day, with low wind, I am still seeing a 4 degree spike on my 5 n 1. Any ideas what I should paint to try and get the chimney effect going? Paint under the cover maybe, where the fan blades are? The stack of the wind cups and the cups themselves? I have no extra heating when the sun is out, like I do when it's cloudy. I can't figure where the heat comes from... Maybe the electronics?

You need a decent enough fan with 24hr power, even the davis spiked when the daytime fars shut down, my homemade
also spiked when the daytime fan shut down, i now have 12v fans in both running 24/7, no more spiking